The present invention relates to a lock mechanism for disk drives, more particularly to a lock mechanism which may extend into a disk drive, stops the disk slot of the disk drive from its inner edges as well as hooks up the disk protective cover push rod inside the disk drive.
When using a computer to do data processing, data may be entered and stored on the hard disk in the system unit, or stored on a diskette by inserting the same into a disk drive. Of course, it is also workable to copy data on the hard disk to a diskette.
Since the data stored inside the computer might be extremely confidential or important, it is necessary to prevent others from accessing such data without proper authorization. There were locking devices developed for disk drives. A disk drive being locked with such a device must be unlocked by means of correct key before a diskette can be inserted into or drawn out of the disk drive.
Most of the existing disk drive locking devices are structurally simple. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the conventional disk drive locking devices, which generally include a lock body 10 having a front insert member 11, a forwardly projected shaft 13, and a rectangular end member 14. The insert member 11 has a properly sized dent 12 formed in front of the lock body 10 such that the shaft 13 may extend into the dent 12 and drives the end member 14 to turn. When a matched key 15 is used and turned in the lock body 10, the shaft 13 turns, too, and drives the end member 14 to turn to a horizontal or unlocked position, or a vertical or locked position. When the end member 14 is turned to a vertical or locked position as shown in FIG. 1, its upper and lower ends shall abut against and thereby be held at the inner upper and lower edges of the disk slot into which the insert member 11 is inserted. By this way, the disk slot is closed and not available for the insertion of any diskette for operation. Reversely, when the end member 14 is turned to a horizontal or unlocked position, the entire insert member 11 may be pulled out of the disk drive along with the lock body 10, and thereby free the disk slot for inserting a diskette.
The drawbacks of such conventional disk drive lock are:
1. The disk drive is locked only by the vertically positioned end member 14. The manner in which the end member hooks and holds the inner upper and lower edges the disk slot is weak and the entire lock can be easily pulled out of the disk slot with a larger tool, such as pair of pliers, and therefore, breaks the plastic-made disk slot edges of the disk drive.
2. When the disk slot edges are broken by strong outward force, a diskette can still be inserted into the slot and the push rod inside the disk drive can still push away the protective cover of the inserted diskette, allowing the data in the computer to be stored on the diskette.